Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Summer 2002

Porthole to the Seven Seas
what he does and how he works. You get
to learn what it is like to be an officer in
your field.”
One of the most alluring features of the
NROTC is the financial assistance it has
to offer. There are two types. The college
program is for students who join the
NROTC during their freshman year and
receive financial support starting in their
sophomore or junior year. The
scholarship program is the more generous
one and offers a four-year deal that pays
for tuition, books, and a monthly stipend
on a sliding scale. Freshmen receive $250
a month; seniors, $350 a month.
For many students, the NROTC offers the perfect combination of a free
education and a college environment in which to train to become an officer.
Upp says he has wanted to become a naval officer since he was in high
school, because it runs in the family. Three of his grandparents were in the
navy during World War II. His father’s mother was a cryptographer,
deciphering secret messages.
“I considered the U.S. Naval Academy, but the more I found out about it,
the more I realized that it didn’t sound like a lot of fun,” Upp explains. “If
you are looking for a total military education, the Naval Academy is a great
place, because you are learning military things all the time. I was looking
for a more all-around education that was focused on what I wanted to
study.”
Upp has a fascination with languages and majored in linguistics with the
intent of becoming a translator. He says he will probably pursue graduate
work in this field. Being in the NROTC for four years was good for him,
says Upp, especially now that he has graduated. “A lot of my friends are
going crazy, working on their resumés and applying for jobs. Since I was a
freshman, I haven’t had to worry about any of that.”
Julia Weber, who graduated from Rice with a double major in psychology
and French, joined NROTC in her freshman year. “I decided midway
through my senior year of high school that I wanted to do something for my
country,” she says. She decided to try the NROTC, knowing that she could
always quit. The NROTC allows students to drop the program after a year
or anytime during their college career. Four years later, she is certain she
made the right choice.
“I have learned a lot, and I have had a lot of incredible experiences that I
couldn’t get anywhere else,” she says. Weber spent one summer on the
USS Enterprise, working in the ship’s nuclear reactor division. Another
summer, she was aboard the USS Gunston Hall, an amphibious ship used
for transporting marines.
Learning to be a leader was invaluable, she says. “The leadership classes
taught me how to handle people, how to handle different situations, how to
plan and organize people, and how to always be responsible for my
actions,” she says. Weber was a company commander at Rice in charge of a
http://www.rice.edu/sallyport/2002/summer/features/riceNROTC/index.html (3 of 5) [10/30/2009 10:49:18 AM]